The rise of online conspiracy, misinformation and disinformation is taking its toll across too many school communities.
Britain’s crisis of truth is no longer confined to the internet. It is overflowing in the classroom.
This is the key message from the latest report from the Pears Foundation’s Commission into Countering Online Conspiracies in Schools.
This situation should not come as a surprise. We all know that we live in a time of uncertainty, informational overload and digital noise. But the fact the whole education system is struggling is keep pace should concern us deeply, nonetheless.
The data says it all. Parental reports of their child raising a conspiracy belief have risen by a third year-on-year and there has been a corresponding 35 per cent jump in the number of young people saying fake news, disinformation and their ilk are a problem in their school.
This is not simply an issue of prevalence though. The research also revealed deep-seated confusion and anxiety. Some 71 per cent of young people, 78 per cent of parents and 85 per cent of school staff said it was getting harder to tell what was real or fake online.
Perhaps most worryingly these challenges are fuelled by ever more complex generative AI, a phenomenon that has clearly exploded since our last report 12 months ago.
This was a point that young people and teachers themselves readily identified time and again in our focus groups.
‘Don’t get me started on AI’
One teacher put it like this: “Don’t even get me started on the use of AI, that whole ability to be able to tell what’s real anymore, we don’t even have that…
“You’ll have kids come up and show you something that’s clearly not real… people can pretty much put whatever they want out there, and there are no repercussions. It’s really influential in more ways than I think we even realise.”
Facing this barrage of online conspiracy belief, misinformation and disinformation, teachers understandably feel nervous about taking them on in the classroom.
They certainly don’t seem to be receiving much training. Some 36 per cent of all school staff have not had any training on tackling online conspiracies, our polling suggests. This rises to 50 per cent for primary school staff.
However, this relative caution from teachers is not entirely cause for concern. It is understandable. In some respects, it is even healthy. It shows that school staff are approaching this challenge knowing what they don’t know.
Evidently, teachers need support if they are to help tackle rising online conspiracy belief, misinformation and disinformation and fulfil the trust that 75% of parents place in them to tackle these issues.
This is why the Pears Foundation is supporting the National Institute of Teaching’s centre for digital information literacy in schools and the Institute of Education to deliver resources and CPD to help teachers address this content in schools.
Government efforts needed
We also need to see the government continue to signal to school leaders and staff that they can and should be addressing conspiracy belief without fear of reprisal.
The Department for Education has made much needed progress in this space too, by updating the keeping children safe in education guidance and expanding media literacy education in the curriculum and assessment review.
Indeed, DfE minister Josh MacAlister recently visited Estonia alongside the commission to explore Estonia’s groundbreaking work in this area.
But this can only be the start. As our research finds, teachers, parents and young people are, as one, struggling to navigate this new and complex landscape. They need constant, concrete support from Westminster and Whitehall.
Online conspiracy is no longer a marginal issue. It needs to be an ongoing strategic priority for both schools and government.
It is constantly evolving, as we have seen with the sudden rise of AI, and we owe it to our children to equip them with the skills and confidence that they will need to thrive in a digital world.
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